> As funds are always short for digs, it would > seem a reasonable compromise to sell off duplicate items. The excess > items provide no additional information and storage costs add up.

Yep. It would depend on what these surplus items are. I'm sure that the Museums in a particular country would want to vet any proposed sell-offs....so that smaller regional institutions could pick up some, at least. I think the other thing that may happen is that these pieces/items would be valued highly by the collecting community because of their point-of-sale and the required provenance papers. Everything else on the market would become second rate unless the same high quality documentation could be provided.

Understand that I'm just running an idea up the flagpole to see what happens.....

To me, the idea would be to keep the paperwork to a minimum yet fully document the item. That paperwork would be the "export guarantee", so to speak. I dunno, like a passport, but for an artefact.

> Correct. The internet changed everything for all antiques and > collectibles. I used to collect radical political buttons until ebay. > I thought I had a very advanced colection until ebay started bringing > out material from all over the country and new collectors. Prices > soared,, they fakers moved in with fantasy pieces and the fun was > gone.

Nearly went in for collecting those myself. Did you wear a badge as well? One more year and I wooda bean in Vietnam.

Isn't that what's happening with antiquities? I'm glad I bought my small collection of ancient coins from a reputable collector/dealer back in '81. I can also remember that in 1978 there were pre-columbian copies (sold as copies) of ancient artefacts being sold in trendy stores here. There was also a Pre-Columbian Exhibition doing a world tour around the same time. I still have the catalogue. I seem to remember you could buy copies of things in the PC Collection. Maybe some of these are now turning up as "ancient"?

> I do know that the market value of any item may be nil while its > archaeological value may be great, and that the opposite can also be > true.

It looks a little like Gold Fever at times. I took my cue for collecting from reading up on collecting strategies.

. don't try and collect "everything".. settle for a group of items/themes to collect.. gradually replace poorer examples with the better preserved.. sell off the poorer examples to fund new acquisitions.

Works for me...as a collector. As an dealer, I might do it differently.

I think J. Paul Getty's maxim works well....(paraphrase) 'go against the tide'. When no-one wants Meccano, I buy......unless someone's got a NO. 10 at a reasonable price.